Chennai, Sep 18 Even as their morale is down with job loss staring at their faces, workers at the Chennai plant of Ford India Private Ltd have restarted production of EcoSport for exports, said an official.
The company has an export commitment of about 30,000 units which has to be completed by the end of this calendar year.
The workers union has also asked for a meeting with the top officials of Ford Motor Company involved in the decision of closing down three of the four plants in India.
"Production at the Chennai plant is going on as per schedule. The per day count of vehicles rolled out would differ as it depends on the production schedule," the workers union official told on the condition of anonymity.
"The company has to export about 30,000 cars by the end of this year. So, the management has cajoled the workers to restart production while holding talks relating to the plant closure," another worker told preferring anonymity.
A day before the Ganesh Chaturthi festival on September 9, Ford India announced that it will wind down vehicle assembly in Sanand by the fourth quarter of 2021, and vehicle and engine manufacturing in Chennai by the second quarter of 2022.
Ford India has four plants in the country vehicle and engine plants in Chennai and Sanand.
The company makes the EcoSport models at Chennai, while Figo and Aspire models are made at Sanand.
Ford India's Chennai plant is the sole manufacturer of the Ecosport model sold in the US; and the Aspire and Figo models sold in Mexico and South Africa.
Earlier Ford India used to make Endeavour models at Chennai but it stopped production recently.
"The workers involved in the making of Endeavour have been asked not to come to the plant for a week," a senior worker told .
Ford India has decided to continue operating the engine plant in Sanand manufacturing the powertrains for Ranger models sold in Asia Pacific region
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